COLLEGE FOOTBALL / Cal hopes to get its kicks in Insight Bowl

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, December 2, 2003

Cal's first order of postseason business occurred Monday, when it officially accepted its first bowl invitation in seven years, a berth in the Insight Bowl in Phoenix against Virginia Tech on Dec. 26.

The Bears' second chore comes today in their first postseason practice, and it is to work on their kicking teams. And then work on them some more. And some more after that.

If Virginia Tech (8-4) is noted for anything -- besides Michael Vick, that is -- it's the Hokies' ability to block kicks and punts. Since Frank Beamer became Virginia Tech's head coach in 1987, the Hokies have blocked 102 kicks -- 52 punts and 50 placekicks.

"With their reputation, we will prepare very hard in special teams," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. "It's obvious they put a lot time into it."

Cal (7-6) has had five kicks blocked this season, and to win a bowl game for the first time since 1993, the Bears need to avoid being another of the Hokies' block victims.

Of course, just being in a bowl is a major accomplishment for Cal, which was 1-10 two years ago and picked to finish eighth in the Pac-10 this season.

Fifth-year senior running back Adimchinobe Echemandu, who was named All- Pac-10 on Monday, said that a few years ago, a bowl game was not something the Cal players envisioned.

"It was something to talk about while we were here," he said, "but we never really thought about a bowl. But with coach Tedford, we were thinking Pac-10 championship."

Echemandu rushed for 1,161 yards this year , the third-highest single- season total in Cal history. And he will matched against a running back who has received much more media attention, Virginia Tech's Kevin Jones, who is one of three finalists for the Doak Walker Award, which goes to the nation's top running back.

Lately, Jones has been one of the few bright spots for the Hokies, who were ranked No. 3 six games into the season but dropped completely out of the Top 25 by losing four of their last five. .

Meanwhile, Cal had to win its final two games simply to earn a bowl berth.

"I'm very proud of the way we performed down the stretch," Tedford said.

Tedford noted all the positives of playing in a bowl game, such as the added exposure, the recruiting advantages and the improved mind-set for next season.

A game Cal lost in August might have paved the way for the bowl berth. In the offseason, Tedford added an early game against highly ranked Kansas State , and losing that game meant the Bears had to go 7-6 instead of 6-6 to become bowl eligible. The extra practice time provided by the early game and the experience against high-quality competition might have propelled the Bears to their strong finish.

"That was our game plan," Tedford said, "that the game would give us experience. I don't know what the tradeoff is, so I can't really say whether playing that game helped us get into a bowl or not. But I think it helped us down the stretch, so I guess the answer is, yes, it did help."

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